NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2020) US gasoline futures hit record lows of under 40 cents per gallon on Monday on an anticipated lack of driving and transportation activity amid a widening lockdown forced by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic.
By 3:00 p.m. (19:00 GMT), the front-month RBOB gasoline contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange traded down 24 percent at 46.13 cents per gallon. It earlier hit a record low of 37.80 cents, or its lowest for a front-month contract of RBOB gasoline since futures of the energy product began trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in 1984.
The record low in gasoline futures came as US crude oil trades at around 18-year lows of $22 per barrel on NYMEX. The average retail price of gasoline, or petrol, at US pump stations was, meanwhile, at $2.14 per gallon at the weekend, according to the American automobile Association, though that is expected to come under pressure too after Monday's sell-off on NYMEX.
More than 100 million Americans are locked down in their homes as authorities try to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus epidemic which has already infected more than 40,000 and killed more than 500 people in the United States.
